The American hop hornbeam tree has very hard and dense wood. It is frequently called iron wood but that name is shared by other species. The tree has fruit that resembles hops and the wood has been used to make tool handles and yoke beams for oxen, hence the name hop hornbeam. I obtained a burl of hop hornbeam from the UP of Michigan. The burl wrapped almost half way around the log. The log was about 7" in diameter. The burl also had a branch protruding out of it. It is always challenging to decide the best way to turn a bowl from such a burl. I decided to cut the burl perpendicular to the axis of the log into two similar sized pieces. This provided blanks for two end-grain turned bowls. Eac
Unusual winged maple bowl that contains at least six burls.
The fourteenth annual Hovland Arts Festival will be held on July 5 and 6, and I will have a lot of new bowls displayed there. Below is a copy of the festival poster. I create the poster each year for the festival. This festival is unique since it features only local artists and as you can tell from the poster, there are a lot of great artists in the Hovland, Grand Marais, and Grand Portage area. We do sometimes let in a guest artist from almost local parts of the North Shore of Lake Superior. This is a family friendly event with local music and food on both days. All artists in the festival must provide a piece of their art for the festival raffle. Raffle tickets are $1 each and can be purch
